and all it would take is the final order from syrian president assad. as the fighting grows more intense and syrian rebels close in on damascus, the syrian regime has turned very desperate. u.s. officials tell nbc news the syrian military has now loaded the pre cursor for bombs, that could be dropped from dozens of fighter bombers. this week, u.s. intelligence detected a flurry of activity here, near homes. today, while u.s. officials confirm the precursor chemicals are loaded, they must still be mixed together to create the deadly gas. the alarm shook the world, including president obama and secretary of state hillary clinton issued strong warnings to syria's president assad, there would be strong consequences if he used chemical weapons. >> they would lose any sort of backing they had with china and russia, in terms of blocking the vote. >> reporter: the chemical mix is devastating. iraq's saddam used it in 1988. u.s. officials stress tonight that as of now these weapons remain in the depots have not been loaded on to any planes, and that president as